I would advise trying free/cheap lessons first. E.g. freecodecamp, Lynda, udemy, CS50x, etc.
Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a “coding boot camp”?
21–30 of 152 posts
Re: Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a “coding boot camp”?
#22I did one. I HIGHLY suggest vetting the placement "statistics". For me, I just read 95% get a job, went to the open house, listened to a couple "rah rah" testimonials and did it. It was a big mistake. A friend of mine from the class estimated that only 30-40% of us got actual dev jobs. The rest are either in customer service at a tech company, sales or testing (keep in mind this is people who dropped $15k+ to do the…
Things have changed over the last few years and what was true in 2013 is no longer true.
In 2013, the few bootcamps that existed and the fewer cohorts they each had were much more selective and they were producing in total many fewer candidates. The result is that bootcamp grads were very high quality (albeit very junior) and they got snapped up quickly.
In 2017 there are bootcampers everywhere flooding the market.
So I'm not sure they are outright lying but maybe they are using data to market their programs that is out of date.
Re: Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a “coding boot camp”?
#23Try looking at the consultancy end of tech. Typically, if they like your face and grades, they'll put you though an internal bootcamp, or send you somewhere, at no cost to you. Starting salary should be maybe $70k+ and up for a new grad.
This is a much better idea than dumping money into a bootcamp.
Re: Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a “coding boot camp”?
#24I did one. I HIGHLY suggest vetting the placement "statistics". For me, I just read 95% get a job, went to the open house, listened to a couple "rah rah" testimonials and did it. It was a big mistake. A friend of mine from the class estimated that only 30-40% of us got actual dev jobs. The rest are either in customer service at a tech company, sales or testing (keep in mind this is people who dropped $15k+ to do the…
Things have changed over the last few years and what was true in 2013 is no longer true. In 2013, the few bootcamps that existed and the fewer cohorts they each had were much more selective and they were producing in total many fewer candidates. The result is that bootcamp grads were very high quality (albeit very junior) and they got snapped up quickly. In 2017 there are bootcampers everywhere flooding the market. S…
[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a “coding boot camp”?
#25A friend of mine used to teach at one of those programs. He quit because he got sick of parroting placement numbers he knew were fraudulent.
The ones who got good jobs were good applicants. They would have gotten the Dev job anyway. The ones who weren't strong got swept under the rug.
Your cousin might do better taking a year of CS classes and working on outside projects
Re: Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a “coding boot camp”?
#26We've hired a few people from bootcamps. I admit that I was a bit skeptical going in, but I am very happy with everyone we have hired from that direction.
There is nothing in CS that you can't learn on your own and/or on the job. You do not need a school to teach you. Having said that, you need to want to learn this stuff and it is a long road. Decades after I graduated, I'm still learning new things (especially math -- since I sucked at it in school). So my first piece of advice: Realise that after a boot camp you will not know enough, nor have enough experience to really be qualified to do the job. Anybody who picks you up is taking a chance that you will grow into the job. Attitude is by far your biggest selling point.
If you go in with a hunger for learning and infectious enthusiasm, you will be a benefit to your team, even while being under qualified. If you go in thinking, "I don't really know if I want to do this, but it seems like an easy job that pays well", just stop now. I really can't stress that enough. Don't pay thousands of dollars to go to a boot camp to see if you want to do this stuff. Like I said, you can boot your own camp trivially. Computer + Internet + passion for learning will get you there. A good boot camp can really help you focus and point you to efficient ways of learning, but it can't give you the drive you need to succeed. My second piece of advice is to experiment first.
Finally, all of the people we have hired from bootcamps have had experience in other industries. Let me put it bluntly: They know how to show up to work every day and put in a full day's work. They know how to show up to meetings on time and pay attention. They know how to deal with difficult political situations. They know how to avoid being hung over on a weekday. Finally, they have experience being in a job that they hate and they have spent considerable amount of time and effort understanding what they want from a career.
My final advice: Don't graduate from school and go straight to a boot camp, unless you know for sure that you missed the boat and are desperate to be a programmer. Get some experience in the job world. Save some money. Think critically about what you want from your career. Then if you still want to make the jump, go ahead. Like I said, computers and the internet are everywhere these days, so it's not going to stop you from learning on your own.
Re: Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a “coding boot camp”?
#27> As a positive point, all the females in our cohort got dev jobs, including the only one who actually failed the class. Startups are pretty aware of the gender discrepancy and actively looking to hire those with double x chromosomes. Not complaining about affirmative action, just wanted to give you as full picture as possible
You should be complaining! Especially given the rest of your story.
This kind of thing is such bull shit.
Before you down-vote me: a man passed and now works at Trader Joe's; a woman failed and got a software engineering role.
Reverse those genders, and if you're outraged, have a think about whether you should still be down-voting me.
Re: Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a “coding boot camp”?
#28> As a positive point, all the females in our cohort got dev jobs, including the only one who actually failed the class. Startups are pretty aware of the gender discrepancy and actively looking to hire those with double x chromosomes. Not complaining about affirmative action, just wanted to give you as full picture as possible You should be complaining! Especially given the rest of your story. This kind of thing is s…
He said his cousin was female so I just wanted to highlight a positive for her.
But you bring up a good point.
Re: Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a “coding boot camp”?
#29Before going through a dev-bootcamp, I recommend (especially if you're a coder already) to get her through Learn Python The Hard Way.
https://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/
Best case it'll take less than a month (2 exercises per day, 52 exercises), is basically free, and if she's happy with everything at the end of it, she'll be FAR more prepared to jump feet-first into a dev bootcamp.
I compare learning to program to learning a language. 99hrs of having French slapped across your face won't make you a native French speaker, it's a long road to proficiency and mastery. Neither will 99hrs of Programming make you a native "Programmer".
However I'd pick someone who went through that 99hr drill over most people who hadn't even started.
Re: Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a “coding boot camp”?
#30I did one. I HIGHLY suggest vetting the placement "statistics". For me, I just read 95% get a job, went to the open house, listened to a couple "rah rah" testimonials and did it. It was a big mistake. A friend of mine from the class estimated that only 30-40% of us got actual dev jobs. The rest are either in customer service at a tech company, sales or testing (keep in mind this is people who dropped $15k+ to do the…
Things have changed over the last few years and what was true in 2013 is no longer true. In 2013, the few bootcamps that existed and the fewer cohorts they each had were much more selective and they were producing in total many fewer candidates. The result is that bootcamp grads were very high quality (albeit very junior) and they got snapped up quickly. In 2017 there are bootcampers everywhere flooding the market. S…
On the flipside, there are more total people who want to do bootcamps. So there's definitely more noise, but also more good signal as well